Those Eyes
by Serenity Rose 24
Summary: Hawke and the king of Ferelden has a past together that not even they knew about.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Those Eyes

Chapter 1

_When I first started to write this story, I was writing it as a one-shot, but as I am sure most of you know, when you are writing, it doesn't always turn out as you had originally planned. So please enjoy this now short, but multi chapter story._

Alistair watched her dress and prepare to leave. As she went towards the door, she looked back at him with those piercing green eyes of hers before slipping out of the room and into the night, without him ever learning her name. By the following morning, it was like the night before had never happened.

The next morning, William Cousland, decided that it was time for their group to move on from the small village of Lothering to begin gathering allies for the coming Blight. So, Alistair didn't have a chance to look for the girl with bright green eyes.

As Alistair and his fellow Gray Warden continued to travel around Thedas, he found himself looking for a certain pair of feminine green eyes. After hearing about the destruction of Lothering, Alistair began to secretly fear that she hadn't made it out alive. On the outside, he seemed the ignorant, cheerful person he always had been, but deep inside he was conflicted. Part of him thought he was insane because he was looking for a woman whose name he didn't even know and the other part of him thought the memories of his night with her was the only thing that was keeping him sane during their adventures.

Before he knew, he was fighting Loghain at the Landsmeet for the throne of Ferelden even after all the nobles had backed Alistair. But he defeated Loghain and the room erupted into wild cheering for their new king. All Alistair wanted to see was those green eyes that had haunted his dreams for months and would continue to do for years to come.

Little did Alistair knew that those haunting green eyes belonged to a mage named Colette Hawke. By the time he had helped his fellow Warden defeat the Archdemon and had been officially crowned king, Colette had settled into a new like with her brother and mother in Free March city of Kirkwall. He would hear many things over the years about the mage who would be named the Champion of Kirkwall, but he never imagined for one second that she would be the one he secretly searched for.

Colette Hawke had never told anyone about her night with the handsome stranger, not even when she discovered that she was with child soon after her family arrived in Kirkwall. Seeing the sad look in her daughter's eyes, Leandra never asked who the father of her young grandson was. Maric had his mother's green eyes and his unknown father's strawberry blonde hair, but Leandra loved him all the same.

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age

Those Eyes

Chapter 2

Colette Hawke looked up from the letter in her hand. It was an official letter from King Alistair of Ferelden. He wanted to see her to discuss the situation that Kirkwall was currently facing, she guessed. She had to laugh as she looked around her well-kept, stately study. She had come a long way in the last few years, from a lowly village girl who had to hide her magical abilities from the world to a high society lady and the Champion of Kirkwall. Looking around her study made her think back to her last few days in Lothering.

Seven years earlier….

_Colette, her mother, Leandra, and her sister, Bethany, were waiting for Carver, their brother and son, to return from the battle of Ostagar, that is if he was still alive. _

"_How long are we going to wait?" Bethany asked. "It has been four days since we received the news of the battle ending. Carver should have been back by now." Colette sighed and looked towards Leandra. _

"_What do you think we should do, Mother?" Colette asked. Leandra looked at her oldest daughter thoughtfully before answering._

"_If Carver doesn't come home by tomorrow morning, I think we should leave. If we don't, we might not survive. Leandra replied, feeling horrible at the thought of leaving her son behind and not knowing if he was dead or alive. As the thought finished crossing her mind, the cabin door burst open to reveal Carver standing there._

"_Carver!" Bethany and Leandra exclaimed at the same time. He staggered into the house as Bethany quickly shut the door behind him. Leandra rose from her chair by the fireplace._

"_Here, dear, sit here before the fire." Leandra gestured to the vacant seat._

"_Mother, I am not cold, just tired. I will be all right, just need to catch my breath. I have been avoiding groups of darkspawn for the past few days since the battle." Carver explained as he sat by Colette at the table._

"_We were beginning to wonder if we would ever see you again." Colette commented as he sat down._

"_I didn't mean to worry you." Carver replied._

"_We were just discussing our departure when you arrived." Colette explained. Carver's eyes darkened at her statement. _

"_Departure? I have only just arrived from Ostagar!"_

"_I know that, Carver, I am not blind, but you just got through telling us that you have spent days avoiding darkspawn. The rumors say that the darkspawn are all over the Wilds. We need to get away from here while we still can." Colette retorted, easily falling back into her usual routine with her younger brother._

"_I just returned from fighting and hiding from those disgusting creature! I have no intention of going back out there!" Carver declared angrily, glaring at his sister._

"_Then, you have just signed all of our death warrants unless you listen to reason." Colette said softly, which they all knew that meant she was having a hard time holding her temper in check._

_Finally, after arguing for over an hour, Colette couldn't take anymore of her little brother's whining about how he had just returned from a horrible experience and didn't see the need for them to go running off to some unknown place. Colette rolled her eyes, left the small house, and headed towards town. It wasn't like she hadn't wanted to join the battle at Ostagar, but her mother wouldn't let her. Leandra had been afraid that Colette would be captured and taken to the Circle of Magi._

_The only place open at that time of night, besides the Chantry, was the tavern, so Colette made her way there. The place was pretty empty, which didn't surprise her. No one had any extra money now because of the panic of the coming Blight. She sat down at the bar, near a young man with strawberry blonde hair. He looked up when she sat down. Colette noticed that he was drinking water._

"_If you have come here to drown your sorrows, you are going to need something stronger than that." She joked, gesturing to his cup. The man looked down at his cup like he was surprised to see it there. Colette moved closer to him. "Are you all right?"_

"_Oh, everything is just great!" He exclaimed. "I have lost another friend, I am running for my life, and there is a Blight coming, but everything is wonderful! Thanks for asking!"_

"_Okay, then, I will just leave you be." She moved back down to her original stool and waved to the bartender. She asked for a tankard of ale, which he handed to her quickly. Picking up her ale, she went to a table in the far corner of the room, to further distance herself from the handsome yet seemingly crazy stranger. He noticed that she moved and turned in his seat to watch her for a few moments before rising to walk towards her. Stopping before her table, he quietly asked if he could join her. Colette hesitated before answering. "I guess so." The man sat down. _

"_I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I have been going through some tough times lately and I took it out of you, I apologize." Colette studied him before she responded. It seemed like he was sincere in his apology._

"_I forgive you. But I hate to point out to you that almost everyone is having some sort of trouble because of what happened at Ostagar." Colette replied._

_I know that. I didn't mean to imply that my troubles are worse than other people's. I just feel like they are." He sighed. "Just with all the rumors that are going around about the battle…"_

"_You know what? I don't want to talk about Ostagar, the impending Blight, or anything of that nature. I have talked about all of that enough to last me a lifetime. I am willing to talk about anything else if you are up for it. Hell, it might take your mind off of your current troubles. What do you say?" A bright smile lite up the man's face._

"_Sounds like a good idea."_

"_They talked long into the night. At some point, they retired to the room he had rented above the tavern. After a while, Colette began to notice how handsome he was in the pale lamp light. Later one, it was surprising to both of them that they had slept together. For both of them, it had been the first time. But for Colette, there was just something about this man that drew her to him, something she just couldn't explain. Her only regret in the morning as she left the tavern was she had never thought to ask him his name._

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Those Eyes

Chapter 3

Now, as she dressed for her official meeting with the king of Ferelden, she realized that she wouldn't exchange that one night with the nameless man she had fallen in love with. The main reason of that came running into the room as she finished buckling her role with her Mabari hound, Cole, on his heels.

"Maric, what have I told you about running in the house?" Colette asked, lightly scolding her now six year old son.

"I am sorry, Mama, but Cole and I were playing tag." The little boy explained, flashing her a bright smile. Colette shook her head. It was so hard to be annoyed with her son when he smiled at her like that. He looked exactly like his father, except for his green eyes, which he had inherited from her.

"If you want to play tag, then go play in the garden, Maric. If my meeting doesn't run long this morning, then maybe I will take you and Cole in the Wounded Coast this afternoon. Would you like that?"

"Can Uncle Varric come too?" Maric asked with excitement filling his voice.

"Well, I will ask him. I will see him in just a few minutes. I have to go now, but I will be back soon. I want you to be a good boy and don't give Orana or Bodahn any trouble."

"Yes, Mama." He quickly hugged her and dashed off to the gardens with the Mabari. Colette shook her head again as she gathered up her staff and headed downstairs.

Varric, Aveline, and Sebastian were already waiting just outside the keep when Colette arrived a few minutes later.

"Sorry I am late, Maric wanted to say goodbye." Colette said.

"We just arrived, Hawke."

"Oh, good. Well, let's go see what King Alistair has to say."

Alistair wanted to roll his eyes at the Knight Commander as she raved on and on about his unexpected arrival. He had wanted to keep his visit to Kirkwall low key and Meredith was the last person he had wanted to find out that he was there. The door to the keep opened as the Knight Commander gave up her speech to admit a small group of people. Meredith looked over at the group.

"Ah, Champion, maybe you can talk some reason into your king." Meredith declared as Colette approached them.

"What seems to be the problem?" She questioned politely, not really wanting to help the Knight Commander.

"His Majesty here doesn't seem to understand that when someone as important as himself enters the city, it is my job to greet them properly and see that they are well treated." Meredith explained. "Instead, he told no one of his arrival."

"Well, Your Majesty, what do have to say for yourself? You have obviously upset our dear Knight Commander." Colette asked, turning to look at the king for the first time. She couldn't believe her eyes. She was looking at the stranger who still frequented her dreams. It was obvious that he recognized her as well because he was just staring at her and didn't respond to her question. Finally, the man behind him tapped him on the shoulder.

"Your Majesty, are you going to answer the lady's question?" The man asked and Alistair seemed to come out of his trance then.

"I apologize, my lady. It is just you remind me of someone I met a long time ago." Alistair said. "To answer your question, I am well aware of the proper procedures of visiting royalty, but I just wanted to relax on this visit without all the ceremony."

"I understand, Your Majesty." Colette smiled. Meredith threw up her hands in defeat.

"Fine, have it your way. I have better things to do than to argue with you. Good day, Your Majesty, Champion." She inclined her head to each of them and then walked out of the keep without a second look.

"Well, that was interesting to say the least." Aveline murmured after the door shut behind Meredith.

"Reminds me of when Maric used to throw his temper tantrums." Varric commented, grinning at Colette. She closed her eyes, suddenly realizing that her son was heir to the throne of Ferelden and she had unknowingly named him after his grandfather.

"Maric?" Alistair looked confused. Colette quickly changed the subject.

"I should probably introduce myself. I am Lady Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall." Colette dropped into a deep curtsey.

"I am Alistair, King of Ferelden." He bowed formally. "I was hoping to meet with you before Knight Commander Meredith got wind of my arrival."

"If I may ask, Your Majesty, what was it you wished to discuss?"

"Well, not that is matters now, but I am concerned about the leadership issues here and wanted to get your opinion on what you think should be done about it. If you ask me, the biggest problem just walked out that door." Alistair replied.

"Maybe you should be viscount, Hawke." Varric chimed in.

"Are you suggesting that the city put a Ferelden refugee, who is also a mage, on the throne of Kirkwall?" Aveline questioned the dwarf.

"Sure, why not? She can't be any worse than Meredith." The dwarf replied. "And she already has an heir."

"Varric, I don't think that is what His Majesty had in mind and I would prefer to keep my son away from politics." Colette said through gritted teeth, even though she kept a smile on her face the whole time. She turned back to Alistair. "I am sorry, Your Majesty, my companions have a very bad habit of just blurting out whatever is on their minds."

"It is not a problem, Lady Hawke. As much I would like to make you Viscountess of Kirkwall, I am afraid I don't have that kind of power here." Alistair replied.

"My good ser, I would not even want the headaches that I am sure would come with be Viscountess. I still have trouble at times with being the Champion of Kirkwall."

"Well, you seem like you handle it well."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I am sorry that your plans were ruined by Meredith. It would have been nice to exchange views with you." Colette curtsied to the king and turned to leave.

"Well, who says we still can't exchange views?" He questioned, making her turn back to face him. "The Knight Commander was good enough to have some rooms prepared for me here at the keep as long as I wished to use them. We can adjoin to a sitting room and discuss some things, if you willing."

"I would love to, but I promised my son that I would take him to the beach this afternoon." Colette said.

"Perhaps, Your Majesty, you would like to join them." Varric cut in. "Hawke and her son always enjoy having company along."

"Would that be all right with you, Lady Hawke?" Alistair asked.

"Well, I am not sure. My son likes to run and I need to keep an eye on him."

"Don't worry, Hawke, I will watch over little Maric. You know how he enjoys being with his Uncle Varric." Varric said cheekily. Colette sighed.

"All right, then, I guess it is settled. Can you meet us in the Hightown market in about an hour, Your Majesty?" Colette asked.

"Yes, and my name is Alistair, Lady Hawke. I was never liked being called Your Majesty, still don't."

"If you insist, Alistair it is then."

"I insist. Until later." He bowed again and turned to walk up the stairs.

Aveline and Sebastian nodded to Hawke and Varric as they departed as well, knowing that they were no longer needed. Aveline needed to get back to her guard captain duties anyways. Colette turned to face Varric.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Colette questioned the dwarf, no longer hiding the anger in her voice.

"Yes." Varric shrugged. "The boy needs to meet his father and you need to tell His Majesty the truth."

"Is that obvious?" But she knew the answer to that question even before she asked it. Yes, it was obvious. Maric looked just like his father.

"It is going to be a fun afternoon, Hawke, you'll see." Varric smiled at his companion while she just glared down at him.

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